Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

First Edition: February 23, 2015

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

Kaiser Health News:
Obama Administration Disallows Plans Without Hospital Coverage
The Obama administration has blocked health plans without hospital benefits that many large employers argued fulfilled their obligations under the Affordable Care Act. Companies with millions of workers, mainly in lower-wage industries such as staffing, retailing, restaurants and hotels that had not offered health coverage previously, had been flocking toward such insurance for 2015. Plans lacking substantial coverage of hospital and physician services do not qualify as "minimum value" coverage under the law and so do not shield employers from fines of $3,000 or more per worker, the Department of Health and Human Services said late Friday. (Hancock, 2/23)

Kaiser Health News:
Supreme Court Case May Be A Wake-Up Call For Republicans
Republican efforts to replace the federal health law have been given new urgency by the Supreme Court. As soon as this spring, the court could invalidate health insurance subsidies available to millions of Americans if it rules for the challengers in a case called King v. Burwell. ... But as the party that controls Congress, some Republicans also fear the potential for a backlash if they don’t have a plan to help those who would effectively be stripped of coverage, many of whom are voters in Republican-led states. (Rovner, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal:
A Top Topic For Governors: Supreme Court Case On Health Law
If the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits in most of the country, governors firmly expect the next move is Washington’s. The governors, in town for the National Governors Association winter meeting, say the issue is a top focus at their conference and will be high on the list of topics when they meet Monday with President Barack Obama. (Radnofsky and Hook, 2/22)

The Washington Post:
Republican Governors Worry About Fate Of Obamacare Subsidies
Governors in states across the country have begun pressuring Congressional leaders and making contingency plans in case the Supreme Court decides that millions of people who get subsidies to pay for health care under the Affordable Care Act are unconstitutional. ... Governors of those 34 states [that could lose federal funding for subsidies], even the Republicans who oppose the Affordable Care Act, say they are concerned at the chaos that could ensue if the court rules the federal subsidies unconstitutional. (Wilson, 2/21)

Politico:
What If The Supreme Court Rules Against Obamacare?
The Supreme Court this June could cut off millions of Americans from affordable Obamacare coverage. The response from the nation’s governors gathering in Washington this week was an assortment of shrugs.
POLITICO interviewed more than a dozen governors, from both parties, this weekend at the National Governors Association winter meeting. Most said they’re in a wait-and-see zone. (Cheney, Wheaton and Pradhan, 2/22)

Bloomberg:
Governors Weigh What Obamacare Ruling Could Mean For States' Subsidies
With a Supreme Court decision on health-insurance subsidies on the horizon, U.S. governors are bracing themselves, weighing what states that opted for a federal health-insurance marketplace under President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul might do if a ruling were to affect subsidies in those states. ... Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, chairman of the NGA, said that one question that governors are asking is whether states that run their own marketplaces can cover residents of other states. "This is new ground,'' said Hickenlooper, a Democrat who opted for a state marketplace. "I don’t think anyone understands exactly what the alternatives are, depending on how the ruling comes." (Niquette, 2/21)

The Associated Press:
Governors: No Clear Plan If Health Care Subsidies Fall
And one thing was clear this weekend as the nation's governors gathered in Washington: Many of the states that could be affected [if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law subsidies] are not prepared for the potential fallout. In rounds of interviews at the National Governors Association's winter meeting, several governors indicated they could do little about the estimated 8 million people who could drop coverage if they were to lose health insurance subsidies later this year. (Peoples, 2/22)

The New York Times:
Flood Of Briefs On The Health Care Law’s Subsidies Hits The Supreme Court
Since the Supreme Court accepted the case for argument, the plaintiffs are long shots no more, and a major legal battle has erupted among outside forces armed only with amicus curiae, or friend of the court, briefs. Critics of the law coordinated their briefs, as did supporters of the Obama administration, to a lesser degree. And those dueling briefs could have consequences, said Anthony J. Franze, a lawyer at Arnold & Porter in Washington who systematically reviews amicus curiae briefs filed with the Supreme Court. (Pear, 2/21)

The Washington Post:
Intense Fight Over Obamacare Extends To Those Named In The Challenge
Sometimes the plaintiffs in Supreme Court cases are carefully selected and thoroughly vetted. Sometimes they come out of nowhere to become important symbols of justice. ... But if you’ve read anything about David King, Douglas Hurst, Brenda Levy or Rose Luck, the four Virginians at the heart of the latest challenge to Obamacare that the Supreme Court will hear early next month, it is likely to have been about whether they are qualified to be in court. (Barnes, 2/22)

The Washington Post:
800,000 HealthCare.Gov Users Received Wrong Tax Information
The federal government sent incorrect tax information to about 800,000 people who purchased health insurance last year through HealthCare.gov and asked them to delay filing their returns, Obama administration officials said Friday. The mistake, which affects a critical part of the president's signature health-care law, could slow tax refunds for many Americans who depend on the money for their family's ­finances. The people who received the wrong information rely on subsidies to help purchase medical coverage through HealthCare.gov that otherwise might be unaffordable. (Millman, 2/20)

Politico:
'Defect In Code' Means Bum Obamacare Info For 800,000 Taxpayers
The 800,000 Americans who’ve just gotten erroneous tax forms for their Obamacare subsidy can blame a glitch in HealthCare.gov that used the wrong year’s data for the calculations. Or, as one government health source put it, “an intermittent defect in code” that may cause tens of thousands of people to have to refile their taxes. Precisely how and where that mistake was made is still being investigated. Whether it was a coding error or greater technological flaw, it’s only the latest sign that HealthCare.gov still has deep troubles despite a second enrollment season that went far more smoothly than the first. (Norman, 2/20)

The New York Times:
Tax Error In Health Act Has Impact On 800,000
About 800,000 taxpayers who enrolled in insurance policies through HealthCare.gov received erroneous tax information from the government and were urged on Friday to hold off on filing tax returns until the error could be corrected. The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from congressional Democrats, also announced that it would give several million people more time to buy health insurance so they could comply with federal law and avoid tax penalties. (Pear, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal:
Wrong Health Tax Credit Statements Sent To 800,000
The Obama administration said Friday it would allow people to sign up for insurance plans on HealthCare.gov through April, and at the same time said it sent some 800,000 people incorrect tax statements about their coverage in 2014. The announcement of the inaccurate forms caps the rough first year for the health-care law, and means many taxpayers will have to wait to file tax returns. The error affects as many as 20% of the statements sent by the federal insurance website to people who signed up for coverage for 2014 and received tax credits to offset the cost of their premiums. (Radnofsky, 2/20)

The Associated Press:
New Woes For HealthCare.Gov: Wrong Tax Info Sent Out
In a new setback for the health care law and the people it's supposed to help, the government said Friday it made a tax-reporting error that's fouling up the filings of nearly a million Americans. After a successful sign-up season, the latest goof could signal new problems with the complex links between President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and the nation's income tax system.(Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal:
Sign-Up Window To Shift Ahead For 2016 Obamacare Coverage
Next year’s window for signing up for insurance under the health law will clash with Christmas, but not Halloween, as part of a final rule released late Friday by federal officials. Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are still affected as well. Open enrollment for 2016 coverage under the Affordable Care Act will start Nov. 1, 2015 and end Jan. 31, 2016, according to revised regulations. Obama administration officials had previously suggested starting Oct. 1, 2015 and finishing Dec. 15, 2015. (Radnofsky, 2/20)

The New York Times' Upshot:
A Second Chance To Avoid A Second Tax Penalty Over Obamacare
The health law requires everyone who can afford insurance to obtain it — and charges people who don’t a fee. The fees that will be hitting people’s mailboxes for failing to get insurance last year will be relatively low — $95 a person or 1 percent of their income — but they rise next year. Now people who get those bills and still haven’t signed up for 2015 will get a chance to sign up in March and April. Federal officials provided no estimates of how many people would be affected, but it will certainly be less than six million, because not everyone facing a fine has failed to get insurance for this year. (Sanger-Katz, 2/20)

The Washington Post:
Obama Administration Delays Another Health Care Rule For Small Businesses
In the latest in a long string of delays in enforcing the rules under the health care overhaul, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that they will wait until summer to start enforcing financial penalties on small businesses that provide so-called Health Reimbursement Arrangements to their employees. Under HRAs, employers provide spending accounts that their workers can use to cover a portion of the cost of buying individual health plans. The arrangements, which give employers a tax-free means to help pay for their workers’ health costs, do not comply with insurance standards in the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, according to Treasury guidance issued in the fall of 2013. (Harrison, 2/19)

The New York Times:
Obama Proposes Single Overseer For Food Safety
To understand America’s fragmented food safety inspection system, consider a slice of frozen pizza. The pepperoni is examined by the Agriculture Department, the cheese and tomato sauce by the Food and Drug Administration, each agency using its own methods for inspecting and testing. If someone gets ill sampling that slice’s tasty goodness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might sound the alarm, but it would fall to the F.D.A. to pressure the pizza maker for a recall. The Obama administration wants a single new agency to sweep all that away: the Food Safety Administration, a colossus that would be housed within the Department of Health and Human Services. (Nixon, 2/20)

The New York Times:
In Pre-Primary Pivot To Right, Walker Shifts Tone On Abortion
It was a memorable political ad: Gov. Scott Walker spoke directly into the camera in a 30-second spot last fall and called abortion an “agonizing” decision. He described himself as pro-life but, borrowing the language of the abortion rights movement, pointed to legislation he signed that leaves “the final decision to a woman and her doctor.” That language was gone when Mr. Walker met privately with Iowa Republicans in a hotel conference room last month, according to a person who attended the meeting. There, he highlighted his early support for a “personhood amendment,” which defines life as beginning at conception and would effectively prohibit all abortions and some methods of birth control. (Gabriel, 2/22)

The New York Times:
Health Care Opens Stable Career Path, Taken Mainly By Women
The daughter of a teacher’s aide and a gas station manager, Ms. Waugh, like many other hard-working and often overlooked Americans, has secured a spot in a profoundly transformed middle class. While the group continues to include large numbers of people sitting at desks, far fewer middle-income workers of the 21st century are donning overalls. Instead, reflecting the biggest change in recent years, millions more are in scrubs. ... In 1980, 1.4 million jobs in health care paid a middle class wage: $40,000 to $80,000 a year in today’s money. Now, the figure is 4.5 million. The pay of registered nurses — now the third-largest middle-income occupation and one that continues to be overwhelmingly female — has risen strongly along with the increasing demands of the job. The median salary of $61,000 a year in 2012 was 55 percent greater, adjusted for inflation, than three decades earlier. (Searcey, Porter and Gabeloff, 2/22)

USA Today:
Home Care Workers Rally For Higher Wages
Home care workers are joining a nationwide movement to raise the wages of low-paid Americans with meetings and rallies in more than 20 cities the next two weeks. The campaign, which kicks off Monday in Carson City, Nev., was inspired by fast food and retail worker protests the past two years that helped spark minimum wage hikes in many states and prompted Walmart to boost its pay floor last week. Home care aides joined some of those rallies, but this is their first independent push. (Davidson, 2/22)

The Wall Street Journal:
Regulators Propose Slight Decline In Payments For Private Medicare Plans
Federal regulators proposed what they said was a slight decline in payments for insurers that offer private Medicare plans, a closely watched figure amid rapid growth in such coverage. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated that the Medicare Advantage rate proposal represented a decline of 0.95% on average for 2016, though the agency said the insurers would likely see overall revenue increase about 1.05% as they deliver, and bill for, more intense services. (Wilde Mathews, 2/20)

USA Today:
Feds Propose Maintaining Payments To Medicare Advantage
The federal government proposed changes to Medicare Advantage plan payments that will likely keep rates flat in 2016, a move expected to prompt more people to choose the plans. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is required to set rates every year for Medicare Advantage and the prescription drug plans, known as Part D benefits. Final rates are expected on April 6, 2015. (O'Donnell, 2/20)

The New York Times:
Medicare Toughens Standards On Nursing Homes
The star ratings of nearly a third of the nation’s nursing homes were lowered on Friday, as federal officials readjusted quality standards in the face of criticism that the ratings were inaccurate and artificially inflated. Federal officials said they hoped the changes would make it easier for consumers to differentiate between facilities, as well as spur nursing homes to make improvements. (Thomas, 2/20)

USA Today:
Nursing Home Quality Scores Drop In New Federal Ratings
Nearly a third of the nation's nursing homes are getting lower scores on the government's five-star quality scale, a reflection of tougher standards for ratings used by nearly 1.5 million consumers to assess care at more than 15,000 facilities. The new ratings, posted Friday on the government's Nursing Home Compare website and in USA Today, are the result of sweeping changes in the way facilities are evaluated. Among other things, the revamped assessments include measures of facilities' use of anti-psychotic drugs, which can pose serious risks for older adults, especially those with dementia. They also use more refined metrics to check for adequate staffing, a critical component of good care. (Eisler and Schnaars, 2/20)

Los Angeles Times:
UCLA Superbug: Outbreak 'Not A Threat To Public Health,' Officials Say
Los Angeles County health officials are attempting to assuage the public’s fears surrounding a deadly outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, saying the episode is “not a threat to public health.” ... [Dr. David Feinberg, president of the UCLA Health System] said the hospital has implemented new sterilization procedures that exceed Food and Drug Administration requirements. Since then, no new cases have been discovered. (Mai-Duc and Terhune, 2/20)

Los Angeles Times:
FDA Says Medical Devices Suspected In UCLA Superbug Outbreak Remain Necessary
Thursday, in a notice to hospitals and doctors, FDA officials warned that the devices, known as duodenoscopes, are designed in such a way that fully cleaning them may not be possible. Contaminated devices are believed to have transmitted drug-resistant infections to patients at several hospitals over the last two years, including two who died at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center. The review of the design and performance of the problematic scopes remained "ongoing," the agency said in a statement. Despite the danger that has been found so far, "FDA is concerned by the risk to public health that would be created by removing the scopes from the market," the statement said. "No alternative devices" are available to replace the scopes, it added. (Willman, 2/20)

Los Angeles Times:
Hospitals Grapple With Safety Of Scopes After UCLA Outbreak
Hospitals nationally are scrambling to figure out how to keep using a controversial medical device that benefits patients while avoiding another deadly bacterial outbreak like the one at UCLA Medical Center. ... Federal regulators aren't pulling the devices from the market, saying that would do more harm to public health because they offer life-saving treatments that can't be performed otherwise. Experts say a redesign of these duodenoscopes that are so hard to clean might be years away. (Terhune, 2/20)

Reuters:
U.S. Health Officials Push For Stricter 'Superbug' Defense
The U.S. government is close to finalizing instructions to prevent medical devices responsible for transmitting "superbugs" from spreading the potentially fatal pathogens between patients, the scientist leading the effort said. The new protocol for the reusable devices, called duodenoscopes, is being developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose disease detectives have investigated duodenoscope-transmitted infections since 2013. (Begley, 2/20)

Los Angeles Times:
Harris Approves Sale Of Catholic Hospitals To Prime - With Conditions
California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris on Friday approved the hotly debated sale of a chain of six struggling Catholic hospitals — including two in Los Angeles County — but imposed strict conditions on how they will be managed. The requirements left the future of the Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals in doubt — at least for several days. Prime Healthcare Services Inc. of Ontario said it would need days to review Harris’ ruling before deciding whether to proceed with the purchase, which includes St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and St. Vincent Medical Center near downtown Los Angeles. (Pfeifer and Panzar, 2/20)

The Washington Post:
Life At Work: Primary Health Care At This Employer Is A Sure Bet
In the past five years, more and more businesses have been investing in their own in-house medical centers, hoping to save on employer-provided health insurance by keeping their workers out of emergency rooms. One such company is Maryland Live Casino, which has made free medical services available to employees and their families since the Anne Arundel County gaming hall opened in 2012. (Gregg, 2/22)

The Washington Post:
Donuts Out, Wheat Muffins In: Va. Wants Sugary School Bake Sales Back
Donuts are out, whole-wheat muffins in, and Virginia’s General Assembly is fed up: It wants to bring back the old sugary school bake sale. Federal guidelines that took effect this school year have banished sales of nutritionally dubious treats to students during school hours. Anything sold while school is in session must meet the same nutritional guidelines as school lunch and breakfast. That might be good for the fight against childhood obesity, but it has taken a big bite out of bake-sale proceeds at schools such as Brooke Point High School in Stafford County. (Vozzella, 2/21)

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